FOXBORO – The fact that he was excited to be on the field for organized team activities and has maintained that enthusiasm through mini-camp tells you this is not just another season in the life of veteran Will Smith.

“I’m excited,” the Patriots defensive end said following the team’s practice session on the fields behind Gillette Stadium Wednesday. “I’ve played football for the last 15, 16 years, so last year was a little tough not being able to be out there and play because I was hurt.

“But it’s exciting to be back doing OTAs and now doing minicamp and being part of stuff. I hadn’t done it for a whole entire year. So I’m excited to be out there.”

A torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered while playing for the New Orleans Saints in a preseason game with the Houston Texans last August brought the 11-year veteran’s 2013 season to an end before it began.

Released by the Saints in February and signed by the Patriots in May, the 6-foot-3, 282-pounder arrives in New England having appeared in 139 NFL games, starting 120, totaling 457 tackles, 67.5 sacks, 25 passes defensed, 20 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and two interceptions in that time.

“Just my love for the game,” Smith answered when asked what brought him back with his 33rd birthday (July 4) approaching. “It’s something that I love doing – going out and competing and playing on Sunday.

“I play for myself as well as my family and my teammates. So it’s something everybody wanted me to go back and do. It’s something that I wanted to do. And I’m excited about doing it.”

Arrington for Revis: With Darrelle Revis missing, Kyle Arrington moved from the slot to that spot on the corner.

“All the players that are out there practicing are practicing and the ones that aren’t, aren’t,” he said.

No big deal: He stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 318 pounds, but rookie offensive lineman Cameron Fleming insists there were many times when he wasn’t the big man on campus at Stanford.

“It’s very humbling,” the fourth-round draft pick said. “At most schools, football is the big sport and I guess at Stanford we became the big sport, but still you’re in class, you’re at a party next to an Olympian or a professional tennis player or a professional track athlete. People do amazing things there, so it’s kind of humbling to say I just play football when somebody else has gone to Beijing and won a gold medal.”